Reading the Books: The Lightning Thief
by hadesgirl015
Summary: From the time in the middle of the MoA, the seven, and Nico get tossed back in time to the winter after Thalia was turned into a tree. How will the gods and other demigods react to reading the lightning thief and other books. Other characters might join them.
1. Chapter 1 What?

Disclaimer: I sadly don't own Percy Jackson.

Chapter 1: What?

Time: Mark of Athena, morning after "the stable incident" I don't own Percy Jackson. Everything in Bold belongs to Rich Riordan.

POV: Percy

**The meeting was like a war council with donuts. Then again back at CampHalf-Blood they used to have their most serious discussions around the Ping-Pong table in the rec room with crackers and Cheez Whiz, so Percy felt right at home.**

**He told them about his dream—the twin giants planning a reception for them in an underground parking lot with rocket launchers; Nico di Angelo trapped in a bronze jar, slowly dying from asphyxiation, with pomegranate seeds at his feet.**

**Hazel choked back a sob. "Nico…Oh, gods. The seeds."**

**"You know what they are?" Annabeth asked.**

**Hazel nodded. "He showed them to me once. They're from our stepmother's garden."**

**"Your step…oh," Percy said. "You mean Persephone."**

**-LINE BREAK-**

**" 'Twins snuff out the angel's breath, who holds the keys to endless death.' Your brother's last name: di Angelo. ****_Angelo_**** is Italian for 'angel'."**

**"Oh, gods," Hazel muttered. "Nico…"**

**"We'll rescue him." He promised.**

Just then there was a loud bang, and a bright flash, and they were somewhere else.

-LINE BREAK-

Time: Winter Solstice six months after Thalia is turned into a tree.

Really no ones POV

Zeus was really mad. The campers had just left, and he looked down, remembering that his daughter was a tree, and always will be. He of course had Hades to blame for this.

Zeus was about to yell at Hades for this, when there was a bright flash and a loud bang. Standing in the middle of the court room were nine people. Well actually one of them was lying down.

"Who are you!" Zeus thundered.

"Um, I thought Olympus was closed." A boy who looked like a Latino Santa's elf said.

"It is, how did we end up here Lord Zeus?" a blonde girl asked.

"We didn't call you here." Zeus said.

There was another loud bang and a box fell from the sky and landed on the boy lying on the ground.

"Ow," the boy moaned. He was pale, and had dark hair. His clothes were also dark and was wearing a worn aviators jacket, he seemed horribly thin.

"Nico!" a girl cried. Her skin was like cocoa, and had black curly hair, and golden eyes.

"Hazel?" the boy asked, weakly.

A few of the kids ran over to him.

"Nico are you alright?" the green-eyed boy asked.

"I was in a bronze jar, Percy. What do you think?" the boy lying down asked.

"When are we." a boy asked who had black hair and green eyes.

"Percy, what do you mean when?" the blonde whispered.

"Annabeth they don't recognize us and we are on Olympus, I don't think we are in our time." the green eyed boy whispered back.

Apollo told them the year, and several of the kids looked surprised.

"We are from about 11 years in the future." the same boy said.

**"**Introduce yourselves." Zeus said.

The demigods, they were obviously demigods, huddled together and seemed to be discussing who would introduce themselves first.

When they broke up and old man, then I realized he was a satyr.

"Gleeson Hedge, satyr." the satyr said.

The Latino Santa's elf came up to the front. "Leo Valdez son of Hephaestus." Hephaestus smiled proudly.

Then a very pretty girl, who seemed to be Native American, but even though she was really pretty her clothes seemed to be hand-me-downs. "Piper McLean daughter of Aphrodite." Aphrodite smiled looking interested.

Then the blonde girl came up front, "Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena." Athena also smiled proudly.

The remaining five seemed to not want to introduce themselves. Eventually a big buff Asian guy with a baby-ish face came up, "Frank Zhang, son of Mars." Ares flickered into his Roman form and back.

"A Roman?" Athena asked.

Then a blonde boy with blue eyes came up front, "Jason Grace, son of Jupiter." As Zeus was flickering between his Greek and Roman form, Hera, Hades and Poseidon turned and yelled at him, "You broke the oath twice!"

The remaining three seemed really nervous, finally the pale boy, who was really skinny, got to his feet, "Nico di Angelo, son of Hades." Zeus and Poseidon turned on a surprised looking Hades.

"You broke the oath!" Poseidon yelled.

"No, Nico was born before the oath." Hades said.

"Wait, di Angelo? I thought I told you to kill them!" Zeus said.

"Would you kill your children?" Hades asked. "In fact, you have a kid here yourself. You also saved your daughter, she was born of the broken oath."

Zeus sat back in his thrown.

"Nico, where is Bianca?" Hades asked.

Nico looked sad, "I am not quite sure." He said.

The remaining girl came up front, "Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto."

As Hades was shifting he had a confused look.

"Another child of Hades!" Zeus said.

"I too was born before the oath." Hazel voiced.

"You should be dead." Hades said, once he got back into control.

"Yeah," Hazel said, "Nico brought me back."

We all turned to the last boy, the one with black hair and green eyes. "Percy Jackson."

"Who is your parent?" Zeus said, not noticing Poseidon's awkward face.

"Hey look what is in the box!" Annabeth said.

"What is it?" Percy asked.

"Books, about you!" Annabeth laughed.

"What?" Percy said.

Indeed in the box were several books, about 9.

"And a note, from the fates." Annabeth said.

"_Dear confused gods, demigods, and satyr, we decided it would be best if you read the books of young Percy Jackson's adventures. Killing the demigods is forbidden. –The Fates." _Annabeth read.

"So let's read!" Percy said.

"What is the book called?" Leo asked.

"Um, '_The Lightning Thief_," Annabeth said.

"Styx." Percy muttered.

"WHAT!" Zeus said.

"Let's just read." Athena said, taking the book from her daughter. The book enlarged to a proportionate size for her twenty-foot form.

"We still don't know Percy's parent." Apollo said.

"You will probably figure it out in the first chapter or so." Annabeth said.

Zeus waved his hand and couches appear to sit on. But the gods stayed in their twenty foot form, which was making the demigods very un-easy.

"**I accidentally vaporize my pre-algebra teacher.**" Athena read


	2. Chapter 2 Vaporized Math Teachers

HDisclaimer: Again I don't own Percy Jackson, everything in bold belongs to 'Uncle' Rick.

Chapter 2: Vaporized Math Teachers.

"How do you accidentally vaporize someone?" Hermes asked.

"Trust me, with Percy, it is normal." Nico said.

"Glad you are alright Nico." Percy said.

"Yeah, alright." Nico muttered. He was clearly not alright.

"**Look I didn't want to be a half-blood.**" Athena read.

"Why?" Hermes asked.

"Just continue reading." Percy said.

**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: **

"Oh no, Percy is giving advice!" Nico said.

"And this is bad because?" Leo asked.

"Because Percy's brain is too full of seaweed to give proper advice." Annabeth said.

"Oh really funny guys." Percy said. "Please Lady Athena, read on."

**close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life. **

** "**Wow that is pretty good advice." Frank said.

"I don't see why you guys were so worried." Hazel said.

"Because I have known Percy for over 5 years, you guys have known him for what, five days?" Annabeth asked.

"Hurtful." Frank said.

Athena chose to continue to read, "**Being a half-blood is dangerous."**

"Yep," Frank said.

**It's scary.**

"Totally." Nico said.

**Most of the time it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**

Nico hung his head low, remembering Bianca, while Percy remembered all his lost friends, Zoe, Lee Fletcher, even Luke.

"Or your family." Leo muttered below his breathe.

Athena glanced at the grieving demigods, "Is it really that bad?" Athena asked.

"Yeah." Annabeth said.

"I can tell you, it is not fun." Hazel said.

**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**

** But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.**

"They?" Piper asked.

"Who do you think?" Annabeth asked.

Piper shrugged.

"Monsters, all sorts of them." Hades said coldly.

"Thank you Hades, god of creepiness." Apollo said.

"Watch what you say sun spot." Hades said.

Athena started to read loud trying to avoid WWIII from breaking out, "**My name is Percy Jackson. I'm twelve years old." **

"So wait we get to hear twelve year old Percy's thoughts?" Jason asked.

"Sweet." Leo said.

"Awesome." Hedge said.

"I wonder if he is thinking about girls?" I think we know who said that. (*cough cough* Aphrodite *cough*)

"Mother!" Piper exclaimed.

Annabeth blushed.

**Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at YancyAcademy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**

**Am I a troubled kid? **

"Yes." Annabeth and Nico said.

"Hey!" Percy said.

Athena cracked a smile as she read the next sentence, "**Yeah. You can say that."**

The following people burst out laughing: Annabeth, Leo, Nico, Jason, Hermes, Apollo, and Hephaestus. "He admits it himself." Hermes said.

Frank and Hazel stared at a miffed looking Percy.

**I could s**tar**t at any point in my short miserable life to** **prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan—twenty-eight mental case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Arts to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff. **

"Sounds like fun!" Athena and Annabeth said at the same time.

**I know—it sounds like torture.**

"What?" Athena asked.

"Percy!" Annabeth said.

"Please continue to read before my girlfriend or her mom kills me." Percy said.

**Most Yancy field trips were.**

** But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip so I had hopes. **

** Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed treed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**

Athena gasped. "You sleep in class?"

"Hey, I am dyslexic and ADHD." Percy defended.

Athena wanted to continue this fight, but she figured it would be wiser to just read.

**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble. **

** Boy, was I wrong.**

** See bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**

The room was silent for five seconds, then everyone burst out laughing.

"What exactly were you aiming for?" Artemis asked.

Percy was silent, "Okay, maybe I was aiming for the bus."

That caused Apollo to laugh louder, which caused his angry twin sister to smack him on the back of the head.

**And before that at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim.**

Cue more laughter.

**And before that…Well, you get the idea.**

"Tell us more." Hermes said.

"Well when I was in fourth grade, we went to a chocolate factory, I accidentally knocked the teacher in the chocolate vat." Percy said.

"Again how do you accidentally do these things?" Leo asked.

"To this day, I don't know." Percy said.

**This trip I was determined to be good. **

** All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chucks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.**

"Ew." Aphrodite said.

"Is she your kid, Hermes?" Dionysus asked.

"No." Hermes said, as Percy, Annabeth and Nico jumped, forgetting that Dionysus would be there.

"Wait you are paying attention?" Hera asked.

The demigods cringed when they also noticed that Hera was there.

"Of course, Hannah." Dionysus said.

"Dionysus how many times do I have to tell you to stop calling us by the wrong names." Zeus said.

"I don't know father." Dionysus said.

**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria."**

"Satyrs, always blowing their cover." Dionysus said.

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school-suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip. **

"Oh man, you headmaster is no fun." Hermes said, Apollo agreed. 

** "I'm going to kill her," I mumbled. **

"Do it!" Ares yelled.

Frank raised an eyebrow at his father's antics.

**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**

"In your hair?" Hazel asked.

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**

** "That's it." I started to get up,**

"Yes!" Ares said.

**but Grover pulled me back down to my seat**

"Oh man."Ares said.

**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything happens."**

** Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**

"Way to sound ominous Perce." Nico said.

** Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**

** He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**

** It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**

"Longer than that," Athena said.

"If you ate more cereal you would know that." Demeter said.

"Shut up about your cereal woman!" Hades said.

"Now if you ate more cereal Hades you…" Demeter said.

"For the love of all that is good in the world, Athena read!" Hades yelled. 

** He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a grave marker, a ****_stele_****, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was sort of interesting,**

"Gasp, Percy is listening?" a new voice said.

Everyone turned to see a new girl, in the dressing of the hunters of Artemis. Her black hair was combed punk style and she wore a diamond tiara that marked her as the lieutenant.

"Thalia?" Annabeth asked.

"The one and only. So what is going on here?" Thalia asked.

"We are reading the books of Percy's adventures." Annabeth said.

"So I assume we are also in the past." Thalia said.

"Yep." Percy said.

"Who are you?" Zeus asked.

"Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, lieutenant of Artemis." Thalia said.

"But you are a tree." Zeus said.

"I was changed back." Thalia said.

"What happened to Zoe?" Artemis asked.

"She, is in a better place." Thalia said. With that Thalia took a seat next to her brother, Jason. Jason gave her a smile.

**but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

"That sound frustrating." Leo said.

"Sounds like one of my old teachers." Hazel said.

**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker.**

"Why does she sound familiar?" Hades asked himself.

**She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**

** From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn.**

"Devil spawn, that is Nico!" Thalia said.

"And technically Hazel too." Percy said.

"Wait, who are you two?" Thalia asked, realizing there were two demigods she has never met before.

"Well they are Romans, like Jason, who apparently is your brother." Annabeth said.

"Hazel, daughter of Pluto," Hazel introduced.

"Frank son of Mars," Frank said.

Meanwhile Hades and Ares were dealing with controlling there form.

**She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now honey," real sweet and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**

"She sounds really familiar." Hades said.

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**

** Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**

** Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, "Will you ****_shut up_****?"**

"Man, Percy, anger issues." Nico said.

Percy just rolled his eyes.

**It came out louder than I meant it to.**

"Of course." Jason said.

**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**

** "Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?" **

** My face was totally red. I said, "No sir."**

** Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**

"Do you think he will know?" Thalia asked.

"It's Percy, I don't think so." Annabeth said.

"Hey!" Percy said.

"I think he will know it." Nico said.

"Yeah, I agree with Nico." Frank said.

"Me too." Hazel said.

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. **

"Ha!" said Percy, Nico, Frank and Hazel.

**"That's Kronos eating his kids right?" **

"Ugh," said Poseidon

"It just had to be that one." Hades said.

"He really was a horrible father." Hera said.

"No appreciation for cereal." Demeter said.

"Enough with the cereal!" Hades said.

"Well at least it was not the other one." Hestia said. She had been so quite everyone had forgotten she was there tending the hearth.

"What could be worse than that?" Zeus asked, he was the only one spared the horrible fate.

"The one of him disgorging us." Hestia said.

"Ugh," Poseidon said once again, this time joined by Hades, Hera, and Demeter.

Athena once again decided to start reading, **"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because…"**

"He was a horrible father." Hades said.

**"Well…" I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and—" **

"God!" Zeus cried.

"I'm sure the teacher will correct him brother," Hestia said.

**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**

** "Titan," I corrected myself.**

"See." Hestia said.

**"And…he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And late when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

** "Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

"Try being the person he threw up." Poseidon said.

"Ew, does not begin to cover it." Hera agreed.

**"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

"He just turned the biggest war in the history of the earth, and summed it up into three sentences." Piper said.

"That's Percy for you." Annabeth said.

**Some snickers from the group.**

** Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it is going to say on our job applications, "Please explain why Kronos ate his kids'."**

** "And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"Ha, busted!" Hermes said.

**"Busted," Grover muttered.**

"Ha, you think like a goat!" Apollo said.

"Shut up!" Hermes said.

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed,**

"And a 12 year old mortal girl." Apollo said.

**"her face even brighter red than her hair.**

** At least Nancy got packed too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. "I don't know sir."**

** "I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living a growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach.**

"That sounds so horrible." Leo said.

"It was," said the gods who had that 'pleasant' experience.

**"The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld.**

Unnoticed by anyone, Nico shivered at the thought of the awful, place he had just barely endured.

"**On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

** The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**

"Boys are doofuses." Artemis said.

"Aw, you know you love us, little sis." Apollo said.

"Apollo you are not older, and don't call me sis." Artemis said.

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

** I knew that was coming. **

** I told Grover t keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

** Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go—intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

"He sounds familiar," Athena mused.

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

** "About the Titans?"**

** "About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

** "Oh."**

** "What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

"He sounds like Chiron." Athena said.

The demigods who knew, remained silent.

**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**

** I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when e dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!" and challenged us, sword-against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshiped. But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder, and I had never made above a C- in my life.**

"Well that scratches, owl head as his godly parent." Poseidon said. Trying in vain to keep the fact that Percy was his son as long as possible. He may not be as smart as Athena, but he realized, once Zeus found out Percy was his son, all underworld would break loss.

"What is that supposed to mean, kelp head?" Athena asked.

Poseidon figured it would be best to stop this fight before it got to bad. "He obviously isn't smart enough to be one of your brain children, I mean, a C- is his best grade?"

As Athena continued to read, Poseidon shot Percy a, sorry look that no one but he and Percy noticed. Percy gave a look that said, "I know you don't mean that."

**No—he didn't expect me to be as ****_good_****; he expected me to be ****_better_****. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

** I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral. **

** He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

** The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

** Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**

"You two are fighting again?" Hera asked.

"What about this time, did you break the oath a third time Zeus?" Hades asked.

"No!" Zeus said.

Athena started to read before a fight could break out.

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers.**

"Boys." Artemis scoffed.

**Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse,"**

Cue stares at Hermes.

"She is not mine!" Hermes said.

**and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**

** Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from ****_that_**** school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

** "Detention?" Grover asked.**

** "Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just with he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**

** Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I though he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

"You seriously thought Grover was going to get philosophical?" Thalia asked.

"I don't know." Percy said.

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

** I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home.**

"He cares so much about his mother." Hera mused.

"Maybe this boy isn't so bad." Artemis said.

"Why don't my children care about me as much as he does to his mom?" Hera asked.

Ares didn't say a thing.

"You threw me off Olympus!" Hephaestus said.

"By the way, you weren't a great baby sitter either." Leo said.

"Why do you say that?" Hera asked Leo.

"Let's see, you put me in the fireplace, made me play with knives, made me attack a rattle snake with a stick! Then made me use my fire powers that ended up burning handprints into the picnic table!" Leo said.

Hera shut up.

**She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

** Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair making it look like a motorized café table.**

"Cool, I should build one of those." Leo said.

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**

** "Oops." She grinned at me with crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos. **

"Gross." Aphrodite and Piper at the same time.

Percy silently moaned in his head, he knew he was about figure out that he was the son of Poseidon.

**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

"A wave?" Zeus asked.

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

** Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

** Some if the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

** "—the water—"**

** "—like it grabbed her—"**

"Poseidon!" Zeus yelled.

"You broke the oath too?" Hades asked unsurprised.

Percy sank into his chair.

"He shall be killed for this!" Zeus said.

"Father no!" said Athena and Thalia. Athena thought it was unwise to kill the child, even if he was a son of fish breath. Thalia didn't want harm to her cousin, who was like her best friend.

Zeus raised his bolt and blasted Percy.

Several of the demigods screamed in terror and several of the Olympians tackled Zeus, including Hades and Poseidon.

Hades wanted to blast the kid too. But he didn't need to tick off his brother.

It was also scary for the demigods to see the gods fighting, especially because they were still twenty feet tall.

When the smoke cleared Percy sat there completely unharmed, but a little shocked.

A new note shimmered into existence.

_You can NOT harm the demigods! But if you are so eager to see them injured, any harm that happens to them in the book will be linked to them. They will heal when they heal the in the books. –The Fates._

Hazel and Thalia each had a nervous look; they weren't alive at this point of the book.

_P.S. Thalia and Hazel even tough you are not alive at this point, you will be fine for the moment._

The two girls breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now father, can you stop fighting ever 5 paragraphs!" Athena said.

Everyone sat back down, several of the demigods were nervous remembering all the pain they have went through.

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

** As soon as Mr. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"**

** "I know," I grumbled. "a month erasing workbooks."**

"No never guess your punishment." Hermes said.

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"See." Hermes said.

"You are talking to a book Hermes." Apollo said.  
"So?" Hermes asked.

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

** "Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me, ****_ I _****pushed her."**

** I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

** She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

** "I don't think so Mr. Underwood." she said.**

** "But—"**

** "You—****_will_****—stay—here."**

** Grover looked at me desperately.**

** "It's okay man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

** "Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "****_Now_****."**

"Oh Styx," Hades thought to himself, "I sent a fury after the boy, or more pacifically Alecto. Poseidon is going to murder me."

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

** I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare. Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

** How'd she get there so fast.**

Poseidon gave Hades a suspicious glance. 

**I have moments like that a lot when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADH, my brain misinterpreting things.**

"I'm not so sure." Piper said.

**I wasn't so sure.**

"Oh no! Piper has come down with Percy-itis." Thalia said.

Piper gave a curious glance at Thalia.

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

** Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted** **Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel. **

** I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

** Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

** But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

Cue another skeptical look at Hades via Poseidon.

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

** Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

"That is creepily convenient." Jason said.

Percy was just worried what his father was about to do to Hades. 

** Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling. **

** Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze as if she wanted to pulverize it…**

"She probably did." Hades muttered.

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

** I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes ma'am."**

** She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

** The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

** She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

** I said, "I'll—I'll try harder ma'am."**

** Thunder shook the building. **

** "We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

** I didn't know what she was talking about,**

** All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.**

"Illegal candy deals, nice." Hermes said.

**Or maybe they'd realize I got my essay on ****_Tom Sawyer_**** from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

Percy got a stare from Athena and Annabeth.

"You are going to read that book." Annabeth said.

"Okay." Percy said.

**"Well?" she demanded.**

** "Ma'am, I don't…"**

** "Your time is up," she hissed.**

** Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like Barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

The throne room was eerily quiet.

Poseidon turned to Hades.

"Hades," Poseidon said.

"Yes brother?" Hades asked.

"Do you have a reason to send a fury after my son?"

"Well, technically I haven't done it." Hades said.

The throne room was quiet once again.

"Can we just finish this chapter?" Nico asked. He was really tired, and wants to sleep in a real bed and not in a jar. He was also not real rested; he didn't dare sleep in Tartarus. "I'm tired."

"Well it is after 10." Athena said, then she continued to read.

**Then things got even stranger. **

** Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

** "What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

** Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

"Yes some action!" Ares said.

** With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

** Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

** My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

** She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

** And she flew straight at me.**

** Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

"How is that natural?" Frank asked.

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. ****_ Hisss_****!**

** Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

** I was alone.**

** There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

** Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

** My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

"Magic mushrooms?" Leo asked.

"Dude, I was twelve and confused. I just saw my math teacher turn into a freaking demon. What would you think if that happened to you?

**Had I imagined the whole thing? **

** I went back outside.**

** It had started to rain.**

** Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

"Who?" Hazel asked.

**I said, "Who?"**

"Not Hazel too!" Thalia said.

**"Our****_ teacher_****. Duh!"**

** I blinked. We had no teachers named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

** Se just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

** I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

** He said, "Who?"**

** But he paused first, and wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**

"Satyrs, such terrible liars." Dionysus said.

Everyone was amazed that he was still listening.

**"Not funny man," I told him. "This is serious."**

** Thunder boomed overhead.**

** I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his read umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

** I went over to him. **

** He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

** I handed Mr. Brunner the pen. I hadn't even realized was still holding it.**

** "Sir," I said, "where is Mrs. Dodds?"**

** He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

** "The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

** He frowned and sat forward looking mildly concerned. "Percy there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at YancyAcademy. Are you feeling alright?"**

"Now he can lie." Hermes said.

"Well that is the end of the chapter, and it is pretty late. Perhaps we should get to bed. You who have parents show your child to their room." Athena said.

So Annabeth followed Athena, Percy followed Poseidon, Hazel and Nico followed Hades, Jason followed Zeus, Thalia chose to follow Artemis. Frank followed Ares, Leo followed Hephaestus, and Piper followed Aphrodite.

The rooms were amazing, they were each the size of a decent sized apartment. Nico's room was at the end of the hall, next to Percy and across the hall from Hazel. Thalia's room was right next to Hazel. Annabeth's was of course next to Percy's and next to Thalia was Jason. Next to Jason was Piper and across the hall from her was Frank. And next to Frank was Leo. They all went to bed, unknowing that one of them was going to be plagued by nightmares.

(A/N if you are confused by the rooms see below.)

Nico-Percy-Annabeth-Frank-Leo

/ / / / /

Hazel –Thalia-Jason-Piper-empty (for the moment)

**Like so**


	3. Chapter 3 Nightmares

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson.**

Chapter 3: Nightmares.

Nico's POV

I didn't want to go to sleep. Even though I was really tired, I knew I was going to have nightmares. I didn't even turn off the lights. I felt like an idiot, a child of Hades, being afraid of the dark. That would be like, I don't know, a child of Zeus being afraid of heights.

Anyway, soon enough, lying in the bed, that was actually really comfortable, I fell asleep, and I fell into my nightmare right away.

I was back at the edge of the pit. I instantly knew what was going to happen. I heard Gaia's sleepy voice in my dream, "_So, you want the doors? I would be happy to oblige, if you can survive the Pit. Can you, son of Hades? Can you survive the wrath of my second husband, the father of the giants?"_

The whole time I was so scared I couldn't move or speak. I then felt the pulling force, like a black hole, dragging me towards the Pit.

I tried running, but it was useless, I was pulled over the edge, and I started falling. I realized, even if this is part of the Underworld, even I shouldn't be here.

I saw the horrible things I saw the first time. Fire, even if it was the darkest place in the Underworld, there was fire, but they didn't give off any warmth. I saw half formed monsters. That is when I realized, I can't kill monsters here, their essence went here when they were killed.

Then realizing something stupid, some of the Titans, more specifically, Kronos was down here, and they would be out to get me. I was a major aid in stopping them.

I started screaming and thrashing in my bed, stuck in my dream, reliving my worst nightmare.

Percy's POV

I woke up to screaming, my battle instincts kicked in and I ran out of my room. I heard them coming from next door, Nico's room. When I got to Nico's door Hazel was already there, and Thalia came out of her room two seconds later. The three of us got to the door, we all went inside.

I was surprised that the lights were still on. But we saw Nico's bed, and he was thrashing and screaming like crazy. I walked over to the bed and put a hand on Nico's shoulder. "Nico wake up."

He was still trashing around.

Thalia put a hand on his leg and gave him a small shock, that seemed about as powerful as a large static shock.

Nico bolted up right breathing heavily.

"Nico are you alright? We heard you screaming." Hazel said.

Nico didn't respond.

"Was it a nightmare?" Thalia asked.

Nico nodded.

I realized something, how did Nico get in that jar?

"Nico, you went searching for the doors of Death right?" I asked.

"Yes." Nico said.

"Did you find them?" Hazel asked.

"Yes." Nico responded. "There are two sides, one in Greece, the other side is in the Underworld."

"Where in the Underworld?" I asked.

I remembered, when they mentioned Tartarus in the story, Nico shuddered, like in fear.

"It's in Tartarus, isn't it?" I asked.

"I was a fool, guys, I thought I could go anywhere in the Underworld, because Hades is my father." Nico said. "Percy, the stuff I saw down there."

"It's okay Nico." I said, I looked at Thalia and Hazel and we came to a silent agreement. "Would you like it if one of us stayed in here with you?"

"Would you?" Nico asked.

"Yeah," I, Thalia and Hazel said at the same time.

"Okay, who is going first?" Thalia said.

"I'm his sister, I will go first." Hazel said.

Hazel pulled over the nice, big armchair, next to the bed and sat down in it, getting comfortable.

Thalia and I said our goodnights, and we left for our rooms.

I didn't hear anything for the rest of the night, so I figured Nico was better now, or as good as he could get, after spending time in Tartarus.


End file.
